Cerulean Pharma Inc.
840 Memorial Drive, 5th Floor
Cambridge
Massachusetts
02139
U.S.A.
Phone:
617-551-9600
Fax:
617-494-1544
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Cerulean was founded in 2006 and is advancing nanopharmaceuticals as a new class of tumor-targeted cancer therapy aimed to improve clinical outcomes.
Cerulean’s tumor-targeted nanopharmaceuticals are designed to address therapeutic hurdles in cancer by selectively targeting therapy to diseased tissues. Cancer is a complex disease resulting from cells acquiring malignant properties and recruiting normal cells to facilitate tumor mass formation, uncontrolled proliferation, and metastatic dissemination. A central obstacle to effective cancer treatment is directing therapy to the site of the disease. Other obstacles to effective treatment are compensatory mechanisms that cancer cells deploy to block drugs from accessing the intended drug targets. Cerulean’s nanopharmaceuticals are designed to achieve high drug levels within tumors, bypass drug resistance mechanisms, and prolong therapeutic effects within cancer cells, while protecting healthy tissues from unnecessary drug exposure. This fundamentally different approach aims to overcome shortcomings of conventional therapy, including lack of targeting, short therapeutic exposure at drug targets, high systemic toxicities with intermittent dosing, and long dosing recovery intervals.
Committed to making meaningful advances in medical oncology, Cerulean is led by a highly experienced management team, together with a world-class board of directors and boards of scientific and medical advisors, who collectively have a long standing track record of business building, product development, and scientific and clinical breakthroughs in the life sciences industry. Investors of Cerulean include Polaris Venture Partners, Venrock, Lilly Ventures, Lux Capital, and Bessemer Venture Partners. Cerulean currently has 26 employees and is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Cerulean’s nanopharmaceuticals are drug-containing nanoparticles that can incorporate the full armamentarium of therapeutic agents, ranging from small molecules to larger molecules, including peptides and nucleic acids, such as siRNA and microRNA. The nanoparticles are designed to keep its drug cargo intact in circulation, evading clearance mechanisms, while accumulating and penetrating tumor tissues through their leaky blood vessels. The nanoparticles also have physical properties that promote cellular endocytosis, bypassing drug efflux pumps and enabling selective drug release within the intracellular compartments. With the drug payload engineered to effect sustained drug release, the nanoparticles achieve prolonged drug exposure to ensure maximal therapeutic effects and minimal opportunity of drug resistance development. Additionally, the nanoparticles are comprised of biocompatible components that can be readily and safely eliminated after releasing the drug.
Cerulean’s nanopharmaceutical capabilities are highlighted by the advancement of product candidates, CRLX101 and CRLX301, and the expansion of its versatile platform.
* In July 2011, Cerulean initiated a randomized Phase 2 clinical study of CRLX101 for the treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
* CRLX301 is in pre-IND development, poised to initiate clinical trials for the treatment of solid tumor cancer types with high unmet medical need.
* Nucleic acid nanopharmaceutical program has successfully demonstrated that siRNA-containing nanopharmaceuticals can achieve durable and dose-dependent silencing of tumor-specific targets upon systemic administration.
Email:
info@Ceruleanrx.com
Ownership:
Private
Web Site:
Cerulean Pharma Inc.
Employees:
Symbol:
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